Watch: Suck-A-Thumb Trilogy by Gay Filmmaker Richard Mansfield

So, if you like fairy tales, if you like over the top campy story telling, if you like dark stories about kids behaving badly, you kinda owe it to yourself to watch Richard Mansfield's animated short film Suck-A-Thumb trilogy. It is a collection of parables warning kids of the dangers of misbehaving told through wonderfully crude puppetry and animation. The first Suck-A-Thumb film was screened as part of the London Lesbian Gay Film Festival (now FLARE). Since then, each of the two follow up films have become more ambitious in scope warning children to mind their Mothers or terrible things will happen.

The stories in the Suck-A-Thumb series are based on the German fairy tale book Der Struwwelpeter by German psychiatrist Heinrich Hoffmann. Mansfield explains:

The original rhyme of Suck-A-Thumb was one of my favourite stories growing up. The story of a young boy sucking seemed perfect to make into a camp horror animation that was both funny and cruel. It was great to be able to expand the story and turn it into a horror series. My dream is to turn the stories into a stop-motion feature film.

I think there is a strong sexual undertone to Suck-A-Thumb, whether it's intended or not by Hoffmann. The story is certainly is often read as masturbation by modern audiences. We played the sexual innuendo from the tale right up making it as rude as possible from the sucking of the thumbs in the first film to the erection-cutting off in the third one! One blog said the films were 'Explicitly homosexual' which we thought was fantastic. 

Richard Mansfield is not alone in this undertaking. He and his husband Daniel, who voices the narrator and Mother in the Suck-A-Thumb trilogy, founded the production company Mansfield Dark in 2011. Together they've put out host of uniquely wonderful movies ranging from the outrageous comedy of ‘Showgirls 3’ to the chilling horror of ‘The Mothman Curse’. Their first official DVD release was LGBT period-drama 'The Secret Path.'  Coming 14th April is gay vampire thriller 'Drink Me'. You can watch 'The Secret Path' below!

If you would like to explore the Mansfield Dark films on your own, we suggest their Website, Facebook, and Twitter! Otherwise, enjoy the trilogy below! And be sure to check out their trailer to The Secret Path!